Architecture & Monuments

Colorizing architecture and monuments. This can be a touchy subject with such things like Stonehenge or The Great Pyramids because those countries tend to either want every photograph OR they don’t mind. So what do you do?

During the Victorian/Edwardian Era, people were traveling, more to Egypt than anywhere else and actually more than people do now; truth is everyone had caught the travel bug. In fact American baseball teams had a world tour to promote baseball back in the 1890s (below you see the Chicago White Stockings in Egypt)

A lot of these ancient monuments still stand today, so you have the needed colors for the monument as well as the surrounding; only other thing that needs to be done is if you plan to colorize – make sure the country won’t come after you. I personally have never sold a photograph with a famous landmark/monument but common sense dictates that countries are proud of their history and would want more of it. Could be this is just another afternoon fun activity.

Now what about architecture? It is a separate category entirely. What if the building is still there? What if it isn’t? How about we look at this one

This structure, down in California, is one I’ve always been intrigued with. The Cliff House. Sadly it burned down back in 1917 and I think now there’s a hotel/restaurant where that building stood (correct me if I’m wrong). How do you go about colorizing architecture? This was on postcards, so the colors are there (the great thing about that era was postcards were advertisements). Also since it was near the beach, here you have a great beach scene, and here’s another

Because The Cliff House burned down and another building is there, if you colorized these images, you should be fine (double check with Cali historical society to be sure). If the building still exists…..that’s a tough one because a lot – and I mean a lot – of old buildings are getting face lifts to the point you don’t recognize the original. If it’s a well known establishment, you don’t want to end up in a sticky situation by trying to sell a colorized photo you weren’t supposed to. The best advice I could give with something like this is contact the establishment, show your work and give your name and maybe something will come of that. Maybe the owner will like what they see, or worst thing they turn you down; if that happens you move on to the next place.